Looking for a different day?
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Saturday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Saturday, September 12 (game #1189).
Good morning! Let’s play Connections, the NYT’s clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.
What should you do once you’ve finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I’ve also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc’s Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #1190) – today’s words
Today’s NYT Connections words are…
- PORRIDGE
- GARFIELD
- DROOPY
- EMPTY
- HEATHCLIFF
- EXCESS
- GRANT
- SLACK
- ODIE
- PARAMOUNT
- SAGGING
- MADISON
- FLACCID
- KEWPIE
- CLEVELAND
- DOUBLESPEAK
NYT Connections today (game #1190) – hint #1 – group hints
What are some clues for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW:Squishy
- GREEN:American leaders
- BLUE:Double characters
- PURPLE:Geographical endings
Need more clues?
We’re firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today’s NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #1190) – hint #2 – group answers
What are the answers for today’s NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW:LACKING IN FIRMNESS
- GREEN:U.S. PRESIDENTS
- BLUE:WORDS THAT SOUND LIKE TWO LETTERS
- PURPLE:ENDING IN ELEVATED LANDFORMS
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #1190) – the answers
The answers to today’s Connections, game #1190, are…
- YELLOW: LACKING IN FIRMNESS:DROOPY, FLACCID, SAGGING, SLACK
- GREEN: U.S. PRESIDENTS:CLEVELAND, GARFIELD, GRANT, MADISON
- BLUE: WORDS THAT SOUND LIKE TWO LETTERS:EMPTY, EXCESS, KEWPIE, ODIE
- PURPLE: ENDING IN ELEVATED LANDFORMS:DOUBLESPEAK, HEATHCLIFF, PARAMOUNT, PORRIDGE
- My rating: Hard
- My score:1 mistake
Not being as knowledgeable about US presidents as I should be, it took me until I had just eight tiles left to connect CLEVELAND, GARFIELD, GRANT, and MADISON.
Earlier, I had assumed the GARFIELD in question was the cartoon cat and we were looking for a quartet of comic strip felines — HEATHCLIFF is another and I took a punt on DROOPY and CLEVELAND.
The silver lining to my error was that it made me notice “cliff” at the end of HEATHCLIFF and I was able to spot the four tiles that made up ENDING IN ELEVATED LANDFORMS, thus snagging a relatively early purple group.
Yesterday’s NYT Connections answers (Saturday, September 12, 2026, game #1189)
- YELLOW: WAYS TO PERSONALIZE A CAR:BUMPER STICKER, FUZZY DICE, HOOD ORNAMENT, VANITY PLATE
- GREEN: PEOPLE IN AN ONLINE FORUM:LURKER, POSTER, SPAMMER, TROLL
- BLUE: THINGS THAT BLINK:CURSOR, EYELIDS, SMOKE DETECTOR, TURN SIGNAL
- PURPLE: ______ ALERT:NERD, RED, SPOILER, WEATHER
What is NYT Connections?
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don’t technically need to solve the final one, as you’ll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What’s more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It’s a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
